Mothers and Daughters
Mothers and Daughters (Mães e Filhas) is a short story written by Fábio Yabu which is available from the official Princesas do Mar website"Mães e Filhas". UOL.com.br. Archived from the original on 2009-02-19. Retrieved 2018-07-08.. The following content on this page has been translated from the original story. Part 1 As always, the Octopus Queen had woken up five minutes before the alarm clock rang. She looked at the time. It was still early, but she quickly got up, gave herself a good stretch, and went to the bathroom. Looking at herself in the mirror, she was surprised. There was something different about her face, but she couldn’t tell what it was. Was it the hair? She turned sideways, looked down, and saw that her body was different as well. “That’s weird. Have I gained weight?” Before she could say what else was wrong, someone appeared at the door… “Mother?” It was her daughter, the Octopus Princess. A beautiful girl with an octopus on her head, which represented the future of her kingdom. The mother and daughter shared a warm hug. “Hi, darling! Good morning!” “Good morning, Mother. Father’s already gone.” “Yes, he had to head off early to the Whale Kingdom. And since you don’t have school today, do you know what that means?” “Yes! It’s our day to be together!” smiled the princess, who was waiting patiently for that moment. “That’s right, darling! Let’s have breakfast! We’ve got a very busy day today.” They went to the table, where a delicious breakfast was served. There was fresh toast, jelly, crackers, bread, pudding, cake, juice, tea and coffee - everything that the queen and princess liked, carefully prepared by the considerate butler, Aldo. This was no ordinary morning. The two of them had planned to spend the whole day together - after breakfast, they would go to the playground, then to a diner for lunch. In the afternoon, they would go to the mall, then to the movies, and they would not return to the palace until evening to dine with the Octopus King when he returned. They were both very happy with that special moment. Because of the queen’s affairs and the princess’ school life, the two of them only saw each other at night and on weekends, when the queen did not have to travel far. Anyone who thinks that it is easy to belong to the Octopus Royal Family is very much mistaken, because what the queen rarely did was stay in the palace with her daughter and that made her very sad. “Mother, can we go to the bookstore?” “Of cause, darling. We can go to the bookstore at the mall. Tell you what, you choose a really cool book and I’ll buy it for you. How about that?” “Yay!” celebrated the princess. They then began to chat, talking about nonsense to anyone who was listening, but it was hilarious to the both of them - they were things that only they understood. The queen savoured her delicious coffee when someone decided to interrupt the conversation. “Your Highness?” discreetly called the butler, Aldo. “Yes, Aldo?” “There’s an urgent call for you!” Mother and daughter looked at each other and hoped that it would just be a routine problem, like an octopus stuck in coral or the Starfish Queen wanting to gossip. “I’ll get it!” she said, picking up the phone with one hand and a piece of toast with the other. Suddenly, her expression turned serious. It was the Starfish Queen, but it was something more serious than gossip. And what was it? It was a problem. The Octopus Queen listened attentively as she buttered her toast. She made a sign with her hand and her daughter opened her mouth to take a bite. “Okay… I’ll be right over!” said the queen, handing up the phone. She and the princess looked at each other. “Oh, darling… I need to go. We’re not going to be able to spend the day together; there’s been an emergency in the Shark Kingdom.” “But Mother, today is our day!” The princess didn’t like the news. And just who had to have so many things planned for then? “I know, darling, but you have to understand! Besides being your mother, I am the queen! I have many responsibilities with the whole kingdom! I have a problem to solve, okay?” “You have so many problems,” said the princess in frustration. They looked at each other sadly. Without saying a word, her daughter rose from the table and returned to her bedroom. “Oh, darling…” cried the queen, who was already preparing to leave. Part 2 A few minutes later, the Octopus Queen was with her friends, the Starfish Queen and the Shark Queen. “Oh, my daughter never understands me! I came here to solve this problem, and she got upset with me!” “Yes… mine isn’t easy, either!” replied the Starfish Queen. The Shark Queen nodded. “What our kids don’t understand… is that we are adults! Isn’t that right?” said the Octopus Queen. “Yes, we are mature and responsible adults!” replied the Starfish Queen. “But it’s so hard. They’re just kids, aren’t they?” said the Shark Queen. “This reminds me of our childhood. It wasn’t that different, was it?” The Starfish Queen laughed, “It was nice being a kid, wasn’t it? We had so much fun. Do you remember our adventures?” “Of course, they were very exciting!” the Octopus Queen laughed. Then, the three of them began to remember everything that happened in their childhood - that magical time, full of discoveries and surprises, like when shells were valuable treasures, seahorses were the fastest means of transport, and any passage or distance travelled always led to some new place. The future seemed a long way away for the three young friends, but it came so fast that they barely had time to say goodbye to the games and laughter. Along with it came new discoveries and joys, but that magical sensation that it was back then never came back. “It’s good to be a queen, but I think being a princess was better,” said the Octopus Queen. “Yeah… and what about school? It was very cool…,” said the Shark Queen. “You know, I never wanted to grow up. I would rather have stayed young. Everything was so much easier back then. Now, everything’s different. I have a kingdom to care for, a husband, a daughter…” said the Octopus Queen with a hint of disappointment in her voice. “But you don’t like your daughter?” asked the Shark Queen. “Of course I do. I love my daughter and I would give anything to be with her now instead of being here… solving… problems! Adults have so many problems, right?” “I think so too, Polvina.” The Octopus Queen was surprised by the Starfish Queen’s comment. “Ester, what did you call me?” “Polvina, duh! That’s your name, isn’t it?” “Polvina… I’m Polvina?” “Are you alright? Did you hit your head?” asked the Starfish Queen. “You’re Polvina, the Octopus Queen!” “No… I’m not a queen! I’m not! This… this isn’t right! I’m a princess!” “What is wrong with you?” asked the Shark Queen. “I want to be a princess too, but I got old and had a daughter… look, I even have wrinkles!” she said, pointing to her forehead. “No, no! This can’t be happening!” “Come on, Polvina! We have one more problem to solve!” said the Starfish Queen, pulling her by the arm. “Yes! So many problems!” the Shark Queen laughed. “No, no!!” Part 3 “No!” cried Polvina in her bed. She was scared and gasping. She looked around and saw her pink room, with its octopus furniture and hearts decorated all over. Most importantly, she looked at her hands and tiny body and saw that she was not yet a queen, but still a princess. “It was all a dream… I dreamed that I was a queen…” she said softly, realising what had happened. Her mother entered the room. “Polvina? What is it, darling? Did you have a nightmare?” She looked at her mother, embarrassed. “It was nothing, Mother - it’s alright.” The queen didn’t think much of it and gave her daughter a tight hug. “Good, then! Let’s have breakfast! Remember, today is our day together.” Polvina breathed a sigh of relief that her mother was still there with her and that she was still a child with so much to do, learn and live. Tears began to fall from her eyes, not from sadness, but from relief - tears of those who lost themselves in a bad dream then came back. “What is it, darling?” asked the queen, worried. “Nothing, Mother. I just wanted to say that I love you,” she answered, her eyes closed and her nose attentive to the smell of her mother’s scent. “Me too, darling… me too. Come on, we have a lot of things to do today. After breakfast, we’ll go to the playground, then we’ll have lunch at the mall…” THE END References